


The Secret of the Kiss

by VictoriousRebel



Category: EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Angst, Angst and Tragedy, Character Death, Dark, Historical, M/M, Mpreg, Omega Verse, updates will be random as fuck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2020-01-15 02:19:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,744
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18489268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VictoriousRebel/pseuds/VictoriousRebel





	1. Chapter 1

Yixing, has only been at the court of King Yifan and his mate Suho for a year when he starts to catch the King’s eye. His family see this as an opportunity for their advancement at court, and Yixing soon becomes the King’s lover. But it doesn’t take long for the King’s attention to waver, as he is drawn to Yixing’s brother Tao. With his family prioritizing their rank at court, Yixing is forced to step aside and help his best friend and greatest rival to seduce the King.


	2. Chapter 1

Lay stood in the crowd looking up at the scaffold, the cold wind nipped at his face and made him pull his cloak tighter around himself. The drums stopped. this was the moment that everyone had gathered to see.   
A man of average appearance appeared on the scaffold, accompanied by two guards either side. Any moment now Lay thought, he looked over to the king who was watching the scene unfold intensely, any moment now and the king would stand up, tell the executioner to stop, that the man who had tutored him from his childhood would be spared. Lay looked back over to the man on the scaffold, he had taken off his jacket and was saying his final prayer with the priest. "He's leaving it awfully last minute" lay murmured to no one in particular. The man walked to the block and laid his head down, the executioner swung his axe. It was over before lay realised what had happened. 

The King got up from his seat, a few courtiers in tow, who seemed to mention things in hushed breaths to each other as they walked off. As the crowd started to disperse lay looked around for a moment before spotting his mate, Siwon.   
"There you are! I was standing further back and couldn't seem to find you." Siwon said as he smiled down at his mate who seemed to have been more than a little shaken by the events he had just seen.  Siwon offered his arm and they started walking back to the palace.   
"Will there still be a feast tonight?" Lay asked nervously 

"I don't see why not" Siwon replied 

"But won't it have been terribly embarrassing for the king to have executed his friend like that? Will he still want to be seen publicly today after what happened?" 

"He has nothing to be embarrassed for, the old man was always going to be executed and it was his own fault, he spoke against the King. He was never going to be spared, the King has to show that he is an all powerful ruler, and that no one can challenge his authority.   
Speaking of him, I should probably go and attend to his majesty and you to his mate."

"I will, I'll see you later at the feast."  
And with that, lay went to go and wait on The Prince Consort.

 

When Lay arrived at the Prince Consort’s chambers, he dropped a half bow before making his apologies for being late. 

"It is no worry, many people wanted to be present this afternoon and with an event that holds so many political elements, it is no wonder." The Prince replied and let out a small, tired sigh "But now, on a more cheerful note, you may come and sit by me and help me with my embroidery, I am feeling almost defeated by the sky!" He let out a little laugh and gestured to the small stool next to where he sat. 

Lay looked at the tapestry spread out over Suho's knees, there were other omegas around the room, some stood by the windows talking about the latest gossip, others were occupied with playing cards, and some had taken up instruments and were playing a light tune. Lay took his seat next to Suho and started to fill in the vast expanse of fabric that had been allocated to the sky with pale blue thread.   
They sat silently sewing for a few minutes before Suho decided to start up a conversation. 

"you are recently mated are you not?" 

Lay looked up from his work, "I am your majesty" he smiled a little shyly at the omega he had admired so greatly from a young age and who, now he had the privilege to be one of the private acquaintances of.

"Then I expect to hear good news from you soon" Suho looked down at Lay and smiled in a way that showed he truly cared for, and wished for the boy to be happy.

"Thank you your majesty."

 

The afternoon progressed slowly and Lay was certain that he would never be able to even make a dent in the area that he was supposed to be embroidering in blue, when there was a knock at the door and a young serving girl entered

"Excuse me your majesty but I was sent to fetch Zhang Yixing to his family, they are having a meeting, which he needs to attend" 

Suho looked over toward Yixing, "you may go, you have been a great help to me this afternoon."  
Lay needed no more encouragement, he was standing up and bowing as fast as he could, it wasn't that he was bored of the Prince Consort, but the tapestry was beginning to drive him insane.

After winding through corridors for a solid 15 minutes Lay and the servant girl reached the door to his family's rooms. Once they were entered inside he looked around for a moment before the realization dawned on him and he let out a squeal of delight and ran over to the figure by the window, who on hearing the exclamation did exactly the same. 

"Tao! I thought you were still at court in Europe! When did you get back?" 

"I arrived late last night but Uncle sent for me a few weeks ago, I thought you'd have been told?"

"No but this is the best surprise!"

The two brothers hugged one another, and it was only when they pulled apart that Lay noticed how grown up his brother was now, his jet black hair was styled perfectly, his eyes outlined in kohl, and his clothes were of the latest fashion from the French courts. Almost the exact opposite of Lay, who was all blonde hair, simple clothes and youthful naïvety, Tao was glamorous and seductive. They couldn't have been more different, just as they had been all their lives but for now any rivalry that they had shown through those years was overshadowed by their joy at seeing each other again after so long. 

Their Uncle who had been standing idly by while the two omegas had their moment, now cleared his throat, "As you both well know, we've made an excellent match is mating Yixing off to one of the King's privy councilmen, it is a match that will benefit the family greatly. So we have brought Tao back from the European courts to try and find a match of similar importance." 

There was a short, awkward silence before their uncle spoke: 

"I can tell that you two want to speak to each other without my presence, and I'll make my leave. I do however, need to make a quick point, that Yixing is to move back into Tao's room, as his bedfellow." He turned to address Tao, "I don't know what you may have picked up while you were away, but I do not want a scandal attached to our family name." And with that he exited the room. 

The two brothers stood in silence for a minute before turning to each other and bursting into laughter. 

By the time that they had collected themselves Tao turned to Yixing, face still pink form laughing so much.

"So, what's it like? Being mated I mean."

"Um... Pretty much how it all was before, except with a different bedroom" 

"So you've done it?"

Tao took Yixing's blush as a yes

"Oh come on! You've got to tell me, what's it like?" He whined 

"Well, uh... It's sort of like this." Yixing tried really hard not to just cringe into himself and run away, he took a deep breath before continuing "I just kind of lie there and he puts it in, grunts a lot... And then, well um... You know. And that's kind of it." Lay finished his sentence in the smallest voice he could, before raising his eyes to look at Tao who was wearing the most disgusted look on his face.

"If that's the case then I'm never being mated to anyone as long as I live!"

The two omegas erupted into laughter again before continuing their conversation about anything and everything they could think of for the next few hours.

\----

It had started to get dark when lay suddenly jumped up "We have to go and get ready! There's a feast tonight and we really need to get ready now if we ever want to make it in time."

Tao got up from where he was seated and linked arms with Lay "then we'd better go and get ready."


	3. Chapter3

That evening as Tao and Lay undressed in their room, they continued to relive the evening and all the events that had passed. 

"My feet are so sore, I danced every dance and had a different partner for each" Tao whined, "but on another note, is the King really that stupid that he thought no one recognised him?"

Lay laughed "yes, and I thought I was the most unconvincing actor ever, but he seemed to think that I was surprised..." 

"Well either way, it's good that he's noticed you."

"Why?"

"Because if he notices you then he notices the family and that's why we're all here, to gain his favour." Tao flopped down onto the bed and pulled the covers around him "But we should go to sleep now I don't feel like talking anymore, I'm too tired." with that, Tao blew out the candle next to the bed and turned the room to darkness.

\---

The next few days passed with nothing unusual happening, Tao and Lay waited on Suho. They also kept an eye on Kyungsoo's gossiping making sure that if he was going to be a part of the family, that he wouldn't say anything that could backfire onto them. Kai was put hunting with the King and his men most days and the three of them ate together in Tao and Lay’s private rooms on the nights that they could.

\---

A week later that the King decided to take the whole court out for a hunt and a picnic, although Suho refused to come along saying that he did not feel up to it, Tao and Lay were encouraged to go along and have some fun outside.   
As they were changing into their riding clothes Lay decided to ask a question that had been hanging in the air since the invitation was given.

"Do you think he might be pregnant?"

"Who?" Tao wasn't paying attention and was instead looking for his other glove

"The Prince Consort, I don't think he's had a heat in about two months."

"Even if he is, only one of the eight pregnancies he's had hasn't miscarried and even then he only gave birth to an omega. Have you seen him? Prince Kibum. He's so small and weak that I think he could keel over at any moment. If the Prince Consort is pregnant, it's unlikely to come to anything."

"What do you think will happen if he never has an alpha to become heir?"

"He and everyone else knows that's not an option worth even thinking about. So he'd better carry this one full term and pray that it's an alpha."

"I feel sorry for him, it can't be easy."

"Why? He's mated to the King and lives in a palace, he can hardly complain. Now shut up and get a move on or we'll be late."

\---

As they were mounting their horses in the courtyard, Lay noticed that there was a beta who kept trying to persuade Tao to let him be his partner for the hunt while Tao kept trying to get rid of him with his usual snappy comments. After watching his brother suffer enough, Lay decided to come to his rescue "Tao! Siwon says that he'll ride out with you, and I'll ride next to the both of you." Tao breathed a sigh of relief as the beta knew when he'd been beaten, and rode away to find another victim.   
"But Yixing, we can't have that." A deep voice interrupted "Tao can ride with Siwon and I shall accompany you" Lay turned around to see the King riding his huge chestnut hunter. He wanted to decline but at the same time he wanted to ride with the King, he couldn't stop thinking about what he had said when they danced and how the King had watched him for the rest of the masquerade. But in the end, Lay opened his mouth but no sound came out to reply.

"He'd be delighted, your majesty. Wouldn't you, Yixing?"

Tao's prompt brought Lay back to the present "uh, yes. Of course your majesty"

"Then it's settled then, Tao with Siwon and Yixing with me." And with that, the King trotted to the front of the procession with Lay following. Tao and Siwon took their places behind them and the rest of the court all followed, arranging themselves according to their rank within the court.

The dogs ran ahead looking for a scent to follow, barking and driving out any game that could be hiding. The foot servants started of at this point too so that they could keep an eye out for where the dogs were headed. And then the hunting party started to follow. Lay was feeling particularly uncomfortable about starting a conversation with the King, especially after their last one had ended on such an ambiguous note. But he needn’t have worried as, as soon as this though came into his head, the King started to speak to him. 

"You seem very capable on a horse" the King remarked with a smile

"I've been brought up in the country, your majesty. I've been riding as long as I can remember."

"Shall we see if you really are as capable as you appear to be?"

"Is your majesty questioning my word?"

The King smiled but ignored Lay's question "Do you see that stream, over there?" The King pointed to what was more a muddy ditch than a stream, and quite a way off. Lay nodded and let the King continue, "Let's race. The first one to jump it is the winner"

A big grin crept up Lay's face, as he turned his horse to face the right way and the King shouted for them to start. They galloped across the grass and for a moment, Lay forgot that he was supposed to let the King win, that everything in court had to please the King, and he spurred his horse on  as fast as he could, laughing as the wind blew through his hair; only to be overtaken by the King just at the moment they were to jump the stream.

"I'll admit it! You are definitely one of the best riders in court Yixing!"

"Thank you your majesty."

Lay and the King looked at each other panting through smiles until the rest of the court caught up with them. 

"Well, I feel as though it is about time that the real hunt begins" the King announced "The servants can set up the tent here and the omegas can rest in the shade, while the rest of us continue on. I think we should return and take our food at around four o'clock." Everyone agreed and the omegas dismounted and the servants took their horses to be watered and fed away from where the tent was going to be. Once everyone else had gone, Tao pulled Lay over to a part where none of the other omegas were "What the hell was that!" 

"What was what?"

"You! Just then! Racing the King as if you were some farmer's child!"

"He suggested it. And I don't see what I did wrong, he still won in the end."

"Oh my god, do you not understand how embarrassing that was for all of us to see? Or do you simply not care about your family's and your mate's reputation at court?"

"I won't do it again, if that's what you want."

Tao gave Lay's arm a tight squeeze, making sure to use his nails to get the point across "make sure you don't"

At that moment, the one face they really didn't want to see appeared with his big eyes and deceptively innocent looks: "A little sibling rivalry going on here."

Tao's expression did a complete 360 and he gave the sweetest smile he could "nothing for you to worry about my dear Kyungsoo, I was just giving a little advice to Yixing here." He said before walking off and pulling Lay with him.

When the alphas and betas returned, the food was served at a table under the tent and everyone talked constantly of the hunt, had it been successful? What was there to hunt around this season? Was the game good? Tao and Kai seemed to be very deep in conversation about something Lay wasn't interested in, so he turned his attention to Siwon who was talking to another alpha about some of the business going on at court. Lay really did try to be interested but his attention wavered as he saw King looking at him again, they exchanged a look, and Lay averted his eyes but the King never broke away from looking at Lay, as if he were deep in thought about something. 


	4. Chapter 4

Nothing had changed over the last few weeks, Lay continued to be watched by the King, Tao continued to have the undivided attention of nearly every alpha at court, and their family continued to plot behind closed doors.

It was drizzly Thursday afternoon that Lay had decided to spend curled up by the fire with a book, when he was interrupted from his story by a light knock on the door.

“Come in” he called

There was a servant standing at the door, who gave a quick bow and then told Lay that his uncle wished to see him. With a sigh, he got up and started wandering through the corridors to his uncle’s private apartments.

\----  
“Yixing! Come in.”

Lay bowed to his uncle before looking around, the rest of his family weren’t here which meant that this was something important to do with him. Lay couldn’t understand it, he hadn’t done anything wrong, was he going to be sent away? The confused look on his face gave him away, and his uncle picked up on this.

“Don’t worry, I’ve only called you here by yourself since I have already discussed the matter with the rest of the family. Do you still have the attention of the King?

“Uh, I think so. He does pay me a lot of attention, but It’s just harmless flirting, uncle! I’ve stayed true to Siwon!”

“And that’s the problem”

Lay looked even more confused, was he being told off for doing what he was supposed to? “I’m afraid I don’t quite follow”

His uncle gave a sigh, as if he were trying to explain the most basic thing in the world to him.

“The problem is Yixing, that you are mated and being loyal to your mate. If the King desires you, then give yourself to him. Think of the power that this family would have if you bore the King a child, and even better would be an alpha child, you’d have accomplished something that not even the Prince Consort has.”

“But uncle-”

“No buts, this is what you are doing, and do not breathe a word of it to anyone except your brothers. You may leave now, go back to your duties tending the Prince Consort.”

Lay left the room feeling like he was in a dream, some weird alternate reality. His family had pushed so hard for him to become Siwon’s mate, but Lay had protested saying that he didn’t want to mate yet, but his family had insisted. A year later and Lay thought that he could at least be content with his life, but his family had to pull the rug out from under his feet again, and he was powerless to stop them. 

He was supposed to go to Suho’s rooms for a few hours before dinner, but he couldn’t bring himself to. Lay rushed to his and Tao’s shared rooms, and as soon as the door was shut he curled himself up into a ball and cried. He couldn’t do this, harmless flirting with the King was one thing, to keep his family noticed, but to disregard his mate and to go behind Suho’s back was something he didn’t feel that he could do. Lay looked up to Suho like a parent.   
He wasn’t sure how long he spent crying in his room, but it must have been enough time to cause concern as he heard a small knock on the door and looked up to see Kai walk in.

Kai came and sat next to Lay, and handed him a drink of hot wine.

“So I guess they told you” Kai said, turning to add another log to the fireplace.

“I can’t do it, I just can’t” Lay mumbled, through sniffles.

“You don’t really have a choice” Kai looked over to his brother and pulled him into a hug “I don’t want to mate Kyungsoo but its not a choice that I can make. Yixing-” he looked him straight in the eyes “We are all just doing want we’re told, we’re tiny pawns in the huge game of court and we can’t change that. Especially you, you’re an omega and barely of age. You just have to play along.”

Yixing’s tears had stopped falling a few moments ago, the overwhelming hopelessness still there, but he was slightly more collected, he could now face going back to Suho’s rooms and acting like nothing has changed, when in fact everything has.

\----

Lay entered the same room that he had been seeing for the last year, it was the same as every day, but to Lay, he suddenly felt like an outsider, as if he shouldn’t be there. Tao was in the window seat with an alpha who was attempting to write love poems for him, Kai made a beeline for his closest friend and roommate Chanyeol, and Lay stood by the doorway for a moment, trying to find a place to go where he could be forgotten by everyone around him. But it didn’t happen, as soon as the Prince Consort saw that his favorite courtier had entered, he called Lay over.

“Yixing! I was almost thinking about sending out a search party!” the happy laugh he let out just seemed to make Lay feel as though he’d been stabbed, but he put on his best smile and walked over to the empty chair beside Suho.

“I was lost in my thoughts, Your Majesty. What can I help with today? Is there more embroidery that I could help with?” 

“Not today Yixing, I’m too tired. Would you be able to read to me?” Suho closed his eyes for a moment before handing the book over. As Lay started to read, he could see the Prince rest his hand over his stomach, and Lay secretly prayed that this pregnancy would carry through and that the Prince would have a strong baby alpha, and the King’s attention would go back to Suho and Lay’s uncle’s plan would dissolve into thin air, and everything would go back to how it had been, only a day before.

Lay wasn’t sure when but at some point while reading to the Prince he had moved from the chair next to him and was sitting on the floor with his back resting on the leg of the Prince’s chair as Suho ran his fingers through Lay’s hair. They had spent the last few hours like this and it had calmed Lay, more than his conversation with Kai had done. The calm didn’t last much longer as soon enough, the King and the courtiers that were with him entered the room.  
Yifan walked straight over to Suho, and took his hands in his. 

“My love” he said as leant down to kiss his mate’s hands “how are you feeling today?”

“A little tired but nothing unusual” Suho gave a small smile, the King smiled back and offered his arm so that they could walk together to the great hall where everyone would dine together this evening. As they walked together, the King looked over to Lay and gave a small smirk to him. Lay felt as though he had just been punched in the stomach. But he gave a small nod back and went to go and find Tao.

\----

“So, I suppose Uncle’s told you about what he wants you to do” Tao said, once Lay had found him.

“Yes. And I know I have no choice but I don’t agree with it.”

Tao frowned “Well, like you said you don’t have any choice about it. Anyway, did you see that alpha who was talking to me earlier?”

“Yes” Lay wasn’t going to get any sympathy from Tao, he only ever showed two emotions, joy and disinterest, and at the moment he had something that was far more interesting to talk about.

“Anyway, He’s Oh Sehun, he’s heir to a huge castle and lands and a lot of money.”

Lay gave his brother a tired look, “Not to seem rude, but why are you telling me this?”

Tao rolled his eyes “Because, I’m going to be his mate.” he said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, but it was the second thing that day that filled Lay with dread.

“You can’t do that, Father and Uncle will have someone in mind for you. You’ll just cause trouble for yourself.”

“Don’t worry about me, I’ve got Sehun wrapped around my little finger and he’s far better than any match that they could find for me. I’m not like you, I can control my own destiny.”

“I hardly think writing you a terrible love poem and an afternoon of flirting proves anything.” Lay said to his brother as they started to walk down the corridor to their room. 

\----

The next morning Lay went back to the room that he was supposed to be sleeping in, the one he was supposed to share with Siwon. But when he arrived the room was filled with servants packing boxes with clothes, specifically his own clothes that he hadn’t moved to his shared room with Tao. 

“What’s going on?”

Siwon then appeared from behind one of the servants “Your family wanted any remaining possessions of yours moved to the rooms that you are now in.”

“So you know?” Lay asked carefully, he didn’t want to say anything that should be kept secret.

Siwon sighed, then took Lay’s hand and lead him to his private study “Your family told me what their plan is, I tried to persuade them otherwise but they wouldn’t be swayed.” he took another deep breath before continuing “I want you to know that I don’t blame you. If we had managed to have a child maybe things would be different, but you are still very much the property of your family. In a few years time when you are no longer needed, and we are reunited, I will try to remember you as you are now, when you were still too naive to have a true understanding of what a role you are about to play in court, and what it’ll mean for your family.” Siwon walked over to Lay and kissed him gently on the lips before smiling down, “go, I’m sure you have better things to be doing than over seeing servants pack clothes.”

Lay didn’t say anything but kissed his mate on the cheek and left the room. When Lay got back to his own room, he lay face down on the bed and cried into the pillow, getting out all of his pent up emotions, until he fell asleep.


End file.
